


If It's Way Too Soon, Fuck It, Whatever

by alittlebitcloser



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race (US) RPF
Genre: F/F, Song fic exchange, Tattoo dykes, tattoo artist au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlebitcloser/pseuds/alittlebitcloser
Summary: The first time Jackie saw Jan, it was over the calf she was tattooing a constellation onto. The delicate stars were following a dotted crescent moon as Jackie’s eyes followed the newcomer around the studio. Her client’s voice became white noise behind the music the new face was creating in Jackie’s head. She had to be careful not to look away from her work.****Jackie works at a tattoo studio and Jan is the new artist who sits across the way.
Relationships: Jackie Cox/Jan Sport, background Lemon/Priyanka
Comments: 10
Kudos: 41





	If It's Way Too Soon, Fuck It, Whatever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silvervelour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvervelour/gifts).



> Hellooooo everybody! *Izzy Uncut voice*  
> So this fic is part of the Tumblr song fic exchange! It's inspired by the song Tattoos Together by Lauv, as requested by silvervelour.
> 
> I've gone a little more poetic and tried my hand at some different things with this one but eeeee babies I hope you like it! <3

Jackie made detailed flowers out of intricate dots.

Her shading created dancing shadows on her clients’ skin to the monotonous music of the gun in her hand. 

She concocted syncopated beats with her needle, fast and unsteady rhythms that were only interrupted by quiet chatter or the comfortable silence when she would wipe over her artwork with a pleased expression. It was always left so shiny and fresh, and the instructions for a smooth healing process spilled out of her mouth on autopilot. Even after an innumerate number of appointments, the triumphant feeling that parts of her were literally walking around on skin in all different places never left her.

That was where she got her job satisfaction.

****

Jan made abstract women out of deep lines. 

There was nothing jagged about her work, all smooth journeys and roller coaster dips. 

She made roads with her needle, a drawn out traveller making their way across skin and bone as she animatedly blabbered onto her client whether they wanted her to or not. Jan beamed at her finished work the way a new mother beamed at their child, a source of immense gratification for her even while still delicate and red around the edges. She made adorable little leaflets for her aftercare with kooky doodles adorning the sides, giving her clients a brief talk through it, the fonts quirky and the colour purple. Jan loved expressing herself, and skin was a living breathing canvas for her to create on. 

That was where she got her job satisfaction.

****

Jackie worked at a little studio owned by an oddly besotted couple who snarked at each other as a way to show their love and had wildly contrasting styles. Even with all of their clashing, they somehow worked in all areas; they worked in both business and pleasure. The business was downstairs in the store, the pleasure was upstairs in their apartment. Colourfully framed abstract artwork and neon lights punctuated rustic red brick walls, and it was impossible to forget where you were as the studio’s namesake _Not Sorry About It_ flashed overtly in a bright fuschia from the back of the room. One of the women, Lemon, who had intricate art traced across her fingers that partook in a dance with her golden rings, was very loudly bitching about her girlfriend’s insistence that she should be the one to lead the interviews for the new vacancy.

"And why the fuck should I do all of them?"

“It could be a good thing, Priyanka might scare them off.” Jackie looked up and remarked. She smirked a little as she continued to draw up some new art for her flash book that sat in the waiting area beside Lemon and Priyanka’s own.

“You know what, doll? You’ve got a point.” Lemon snorted, pointing at Jackie with a gentle grin and tossing her hair before copy and pasting yet another polite email inviting the next candidate in for an interview.

“Lemondra, stop talking shit about me you dumb whore-” Priyanka hollered without letting more than a second pass. She might have been with a client, but her ears were clearly burning. 

Jackie huffed at the endearing yet ridiculous way this pair showed their love as Lemon let her ungraceful guffaws travel over the faint buzz from where Priyanka was making mandala bloom on a woman’s thigh.

****

Jan started off as an apprentice under the ever so kooky Crystal, known for her mullet and the bright colours she would pierce into your skin. She owned _Get Dusted_ , a piercing and tattoo studio on a little backstreet that you wouldn’t dare go down if you didn’t know better. You had to bravely search for it, but no one ever regretted finding it. Even though their styles were different, Crystal embraced Jan’s direction through hazy highs and taught her everything she needed to know. 

But that was in New Jersey, and Jan had just moved across the Hudson.

A daily commute from Manhattan back to her former home was proving to be an utter pain in the ass, and Jan found herself often giving up on the prospect of it and simply going back to her parents’ at the end of the day - but that just made her extortionate rent feel that little bit more painful every time she paid it. That was why she’d applied for spots at a few studios in the city, and had stuttered apologetically through admitting this to Crystal who simply offered her a weed brownie as brunch and squealed in excitement for her. Ecstatically, they danced around the studio, heels clacking obnoxiously against the scuffed wooden floors to the sound of Daya doing a septum piercing with vintage Paramore playing in the background.

“Thank you for everything, gorg.” Jan had glassy tears in her eyes because Crystal did too, and they gripped onto the inside of each other’s elbows as the ever aloof Gigi walked in on them with a bemused raised eyebrow as she grabbed her disinfectant wipes. 

She had soft insides though, and Jan knew this for sure. When it came to her final morning, Gigi dropped a huge box of doughnuts onto the front desk and gave Jan the one with pink icing and purple sprinkles for breakfast.

****

The first time Jackie saw Jan, it was over the calf she was tattooing a constellation onto. The delicate stars were following a dotted crescent moon as Jackie’s eyes followed the newcomer around the studio. Her client’s voice became white noise behind the music the new face was creating in Jackie’s head. She had to be careful not to look away from her work. 

Her icy blonde hair cascaded down her back, like waves being pushed and pulled by a gentle tide that Jackie would feel content to swim in. She had always liked swimming because her sheer need for control was given over to the waves. It didn’t snatch it away, it pried it from her hands encouragingly. It felt freeing.

“Hey Jackie! We got ourselves some fresh meat over here.” Priyanka was crude, wiggling her eyebrows in a way that made Lemon elbow her sharply in the ribs.

Underneath Priyanka’s melodramatic “ow!,”Jackie hung onto a single syllable that was accompanied by a gentle wave.

“Jan.”

****

The first time Jan saw Jackie, it was over one of her new boss’ shoulders. She had two new bosses - girlfriends who loved and hated each other in equal measure it seemed - but right now the dainty blonde was hanging off her other half’s arm as they proudly flaunted their business that was so clearly a labour of love. Their back and forth banter became white noise behind the oddly tuneful buzz of the artist's gun. Jan had to crane her neck to see the way her rose gold rimmed glasses were slipping down her nose as she worked. 

Her warm chocolate curls were in a deep red scrunchie on the top of her head, pieces falling out and hitting her forehead like pebbles plummeting down a cliff face in a way Jan thought was pretty. She had always been an adrenaline junkie but had never abseiled down anything. She was more upside down roller coasters at Disney World rather than crumbling canyons. But she figured that this mountain was maybe one she would feel safe to glide down, bungee jump curls springing. It felt intriguing. 

“Hey Jackie! We got ourselves some fresh meat over here.” Priyanka was a kooky dumbass, that much was clear, but Jan was fixated on finally knowing the mystery artist’s name.

Priyanka and Lemon were creating their own cacophony of chaos, and it felt like Jan had created an antithesis with Jackie when she waved softly from across the room.

“Jan.”

****

When _Not Sorry About It_ darkened, Jackie enjoyed staying late. That was the time when she filled up her flash booklet with shady sunflowers and lotus swirls. It was the quietest part of the day aside from the morning, but she relished slowly waking up with languid stretches and a hot coffee in her bed too much to be there too early. It was a fifteen minute walk. Jackie left with half an hour to spare and no earlier than that. 

Resident piercer, Chelsea, always met Jackie halfway between their respective apartments on the way to the studio, her silver septum glinting in the late dawn’s light. She had intertwined pastels into her blonde waves and Jackie thought it suited her well. She thought that even more when Chelsea thrusted a black coffee into her weary, waiting hands.

She was happy to get into work.

Jan was always there already, and the way she rose with the sun was utterly unsurprising to Jackie, because she was just as bright as it. Maybe even brighter.

****

When _Not Sorry About it_ lit up due to the sun glaring through the windows, Jan enjoyed getting in early. Lemon gave her a key and never complained, even if herself and Priyanka were still tightly tangled up in their bed two floors above. Jan could be trusted and she had also seen grumpy Priyanka before her morning Starbucks - Lemon had her work cut out for her. As the newest member of the team, the least Jan could do was show how trustworthy she was by opening up. 

She ambled leisurely down the Manhattan sidewalk and picked up an almond croissant on her way to the studio, her chocolate brown eyes gleaming in the morning sunshine. Crumbs dropped onto her lavender coat, and Jan brushed them from the material with the thought that she needed a scarf to go with it. She thought it even more when the wind billowed around her, twisting her hair every which way.

She was happy to get into work.

Jackie never showed up too early, because she had reliable habits that she stuck to most days. Maybe even everyday.

****

When Jackie tattooed Jan, she complimented her skin with gentle simpers. She said it was soft, moisturised, a perfect canvas for the vines and floral patterns that were now framing Jan’s tits and travelling up her sternum. 

Unrelenting, like Jackie’s affection, they were growing.

Jan decorated her skin in sentiments like manicured hands that were tied together in a pinky promise. She said that herself and her best friends - Rosé and Lagoona - got them from Lemon in a sporadic episode of boredom and affection.

She had a better pain threshold than Jackie would have assumed, especially for a spot like this, but Jan said she’d grown up with brothers punching her in the ribs on every birthday that passed. It was done with affection and left bruises of a strange love. Jackie said that sounded barbaric, Jan said it prepared her for life.

****

When Jan tattooed Jackie, she took her time with an intense concentration. Jackie’s art intimidated her if she was honest, and she wanted to impress her with bold, feminine lines growing into a lotus on her thigh. 

Gradually, like Jan's obsession, they were blooming. 

Jackie decorated her skin in symbols that taught you things. She was animated in her description of what the lotus symbolised in Iranian myth. It was a flower of life and creation, an emblem for femininity, a synonym for beauty and power. 

She thought Jackie would have a better pain threshold than this, and giggled melodically at the way she winced. She called her a wuss, squealed and clacked her chunky black boots against the ground when Jackie flipped her off. Jan said she needed to toughen up, Jackie said she was just fine as she was.

****  
  


Jackie tumbled, stumbled, fell into Jan’s bed.

There was no sleeping.

She had crawled the tips of her fingers gradually up Jan’s inner thighs without rushing because, why would she?

The last woman Jackie had gone to bed with had been her ex-girlfriend. Jackie refused to think on her for too long because of the way she had walked out the door with an echoey slam and straight into the arms of someone else. Jackie was strong, sure, but that one had hurt.

Shoving the stabbing of that thought to the back of her mind, Jackie hauled Jan closer in a way that made her throatily chortle by hooking her arms under her thighs. _And that laugh? That_ was the sound that ran through her blood like morphine and suddenly, as she kissed her way to Jan’s clit, the stabbing sensation was gone. She moved in rhythms that made Jan convulse under her again and again and again until she was done.

“My turn.” Jan was eager, enthused, exactly what Jackie wanted.

****

Jan tumbled, stumbled, pulling Jackie with her as they fell into her bed. 

There was no sleeping.

She had dragged her lips down the curve of Jackie’s spine without rushing because, why would she?

The last woman Jan had gone to bed with had been a three night stand. Jan refused to think of her as anything more than that because of the way she had backed off from Jan’s affections like they were an embarrassing leech of her energy. Jan was needy, sure, but she was made to feel draining.

Hiding the pinpricks of that thought in a box in the deepest depths of her brain, Jan was suddenly tugged down the bed with a force that she loved. _And that action? That_ was the way Jan was tugged away from luggage and boxes and bags of people who had hurt her and into a new light where all she could think about were Jackie’s hands running up her soft sides and her tongue licking where it ached again and again and again until she was done. 

“My turn.” Jackie’s eyes were alight with anticipation, need, exactly what Jan wanted.

****

Jackie suggested that they become girlfriends over empanadas at eleven at night on the last Friday of the month, but Jackie being Jackie, she took one step forward and over-thought until she took two steps back.

“You think it’s too soon?” Jackie uttered, pulling her empanada into two pieces before taking a bite. The cheese oozed in a way that was beyond hypnotising, and Jackie had to catch it clumsily between her lips. 

_“Jacks,_ like…” Jan started, grazing her teeth over her bottom lip and cracking her nude lipstick just a little. “Fuck it, whatever.”

Jackie held half of her empanada out, smirking when Jan blinked cluelessly. Her mind was clearly elsewhere.

“For me?”

“You said you wanted to try the cheeseburger wheat...”

Jackie's mom had always said that food shared was food blessed, so she thought it was a good way to start off as girlfriends.

“Oh. Oh! I did!-“ Jan was gleeful in her takings and took a bite while it was still much too hot, cursing under her breath.

Jackie had never been more endeared, and her eyes travelled up the winding, flowering vines she had placed upon Jan’s skin herself.

****

Jan agreed to be Jackie’s girlfriend over empanadas at eleven at night on the last Friday of the month, but Jan being Jan, she mentally sprinted towards figurative finish lines of domestic bliss.

“You think it’s too soon?”

_No-_

Jan stopped herself. She let herself be hypnotised by the way Jackie broke her empanada into two pieces instead, huffing at how she caught the dripping cheese between her teeth.

" _Jacks,_ like..." Jan mused slowly, easing into her next words and finding only the crudest way of expressing her thoughts. "Fuck it, whatever."

The next thing Jan knew, half an empanada was being waved emphatically at the tip of her nose, and her mind buffered as she blinked and came round to realising that Jackie was offering it to her. 

“For me?” 

“You said you wanted to try the cheeseburger wheat...”

Oh. Her _girlfriend_ was just being considerate.

“Oh. Oh! I did!-“ Jan’s giddy bouncing had less to do with the tasty offering and more to do with the fact that she was now in a relationship with the woman sitting opposite her. 

Jan had never been more besotted, and she let Jackie's deep hazel eyes transfix her even under the ugly artificial lighting and sickly lime green walls.

****

Jackie and Jan left the studio together.

Exhaustion from the day permeated through Jackie, from her steady morning chatting with Chelsea to a client who couldn’t make their mind up to constantly meeting eyes with Jan across the studio.

Priyanka’s yell that bid them goodbye welcomed in the weekend before a rare and welcome Saturday off. Hand in hand, they wound their way down the Friday night streets into a liquor store. They wanted to get the kind of fucked up only a Friday night could bring and wine wasn’t about to do the trick.

They didn’t drink the same spirits, as Jackie had found out when Jan made a sour face at her suggestion of bourbon whiskey. So, obviously, they got a bottle each of their own individual poison.

By one in the morning, the bottles were three quarters of the way finished and they were lounging on soggy grass in the darkness of Central Park. Jackie could just about make out a couple of the patterns and images that adorned Jan’s skin, the Gemini constellation and rose and honeysuckle. 

She could have sworn it was the honeysuckle that she could taste on Jan’s lips and not the gin she had been mixing with cheap lemonade. They were walking home - home being wherever the other was - and had stopped by the lights of a 7/11 to get a look at one another which turned into kissing obnoxiously against the window. Jackie knew she was being sloppy, and she wasn’t as meticulous as usual, but she found that she didn’t care even when a line of spit connected her own swollen bottom lip to Jan’s when she pulled away.

Jackie could see that Jan’s pupils were blown wide, and the rope of spit didn’t have a chance to break before she hauled Jackie back into her. The air was chilly but her body was hot, steaming pressure was mounting in the dizzying proximity between them, and Jackie wasn’t sure she could ever get enough.

Jan had whispered that some people found her to be too much, but Jackie only ever found herself wanting more more more more more more more-

****

Jackie and Jan left the studio together.

Adrenaline from the day coursed through Jan, from her morning gossiping with Lemon over their flash designs, to a long back piece she poured her heart and soul into to constantly meeting eyes with Jackie across the studio.

Priyanka’s yell that bid them goodbye welcomed in the weekend before a rare and welcome Saturday off. Hand in hand, they wound their way down the Friday night streets into a liquor store. They wanted to get the kind of fucked up only a Friday night could bring and wine wasn’t about to do the trick.

They didn’t drink the same spirits, and Jan’s face twisted bitterly at Jackie’s burning suggestion of bourbon whiskey. So, obviously, they got a bottle each of their own individual poison.

By one in the morning, the bottles were three quarters of the way finished and they were lounging on soggy grass in the darkness of Central Park. Jan was babbling - nothing out of the ordinary but a little... _more_ because she was drunk as fuck - about Chromatica and how she played it for a week straight at the studio when it was first released. Jackie hummed soothingly underneath her words, but Jan noticed that her eyes were trailing over any exposed skin they could find.

Jackie’s curls tickled Jan’s rosy cheeks and her beige jacket was slipping from her shoulders, coaxing Jan to slip it off despite the fact she was being pushed up against the window of a 7/11 in Hell’s Kitchen. They were walking home - home being wherever the other was - when they had caught the glowing sight of each other in the yellow lights emanating from the store and everything had happened so fast. At the brush of Jackie’s tongue, Jan whined low in her throat, and when Jackie took a moment to breathe their spit kept them connected.

It was hot, maddeningly intimate and sloppy all at once, and Jan dug her nails into skin decorated with one of Priyanka’s works to pull her back in and implicitly ask Jackie to never stop.

Jackie had whispered that she never felt like she could be herself growing up, but Jan shook her head and encouraged Jackie to just be, be, be, be, be, be, be-

****

Oh _god,_ the hangover was real.

They were naked in Jackie’s bed, sunlight teeming in through the window where they had forgotten to close the blinds. Jackie’s stirring made Jan groan dramatically, and she lifted her heavy head up from the pillow.

“Fuck…” Jackie had never known a woman who had such a way with words. “The hangover is...hangin’.”

Jackie cackled and fell back against the soft blue sheets that caught her throbbing head gently. One of Jan’s usual catchphrases ( _the girl’s are girlin’, Jacks!)_ didn’t quite hit the ground running this time. Her messy hair was up in a silk scrunchie and her brown eyes were hooded, tied together with sleep. 

She looked beautiful.

****

Fucking hell, _not this,_ the hangover was too real.

They were naked in Jackie’s bed, and Jan could feel the warmth of the sun against her bare shoulderblades. It told her they forgot to close the blinds. She tried to coax herself back into dozing, but Jackie was tossing and turning in such a way that she whined petulantly.

“Fuck…” Her head pounded, and she pouted up at Jackie as it she could fix it. “The hangover is...hangin’.”

At the sound of Jackie’s enthused laughter, Jan tightened her messy ponytail that she was surprised had survived the night. She let her gaze travel up and up until they spotted the flakes of mascara left behind in Jackie’s lower lashes and the nonsensical journeys her slept-on curls were taking.

She looked beautiful.

****

Jackie and Jan sketched art onto each other's skin with needles and ink, but that morning, they stuck to the soft endings of each other's fingertips.


End file.
